Malang, East Java, Indonesia, Asosiasi Perguruan Tinggi Swasta Indonesia (APTISI) Wilayah VII Jawa Timur embraced international collaboration through global collaboration with Universiti Muhammadiyah Malaysia (UMAM) in the hybrid International Workshop at the Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM).
The Rector of UMAM, Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Waluyo Adi Siswanto, accompanied by Vice Rector, Dr. Wachid Ridwan pointed out the need of increasing PhD lecturers in Indonesia in order to be more competitive in the era of global education. The statistic according to Pangkalan Data Pendidikan Tinggi (PDDikti) says that 70% (207,586) of the lecturers in the country only graduated from Master degree or Strata 2 while only 42,825 lecturers holds PhD or Strata 3. “Whereas if you look at other countries such as Malaysia, the statistic shows an opposite with ours in which 60% to 70% of the lecturers are already PhD holders,” argued the Rector.
Prof. Dr. H. Suko Wiyono, S.H., M.H. as Chairman of APTISI VII which organized ‘International Workshop: Implementation of Internalization Strategies in Higher Education Through Global Collaboration’ encouraged the universities to use Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) as an opportunities for campuses to expose undergraduate students with the world outside their campus and gain connections.
Dr. Waluyo said that UMAM is there to upgrade the education in Indonesia by increasing the number of PhD lecturers with international standards. The university currently offers five research-based PhD programmes; (1) PhD in Islamic Studies, (2) PhD in Social Science, (3) PhD in Education, (4) PhD in Information Technology, and (5) PhD in Business and Management.
UMAM provides a platform to develop future PhD holders with broader experience, vision, and connection by applying several methods during their PhD journey; English as language instructor, supervised by experts in their field from different countries, and intensive research with international collaboration. Hence, the future PhD lecturers are expected to be capable of aligning education in Indonesia towards internalization with strong criteria both in language and academic as mentioned by the Chairman of APTISI VII.
In front of several APTISI VII members and international institutions who attended the workshop, UMAM also offers existing PhD lecturers an opportunity to become co-supervisor or in Indonesia named as co-promotor. The initiative is designed to allow lecturers to engage with experts from multiple countries on research publications together with PhD candidates at UMAM.
Prof. Dr. Syamsul Arifin, M.Si., Vice Rector I UMM in his speech welcomed the participants to take the side benefit of the workshop. With the attendance of several global institutions, the opportunity was successfully taken by the participants through greetings and asking for collaboration during the Q&A session, lunchtime, and breakout room at the end of the session where participants were given time to meet with each international institution that they want virtually via Zoom Meeting.
